Stealth Amnesty For Illegals Already Underway

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The good news is that there
probably won`t be any
amnesty for illegal aliens in the near future—at
least not one under that name and covering all illegals.

That`s more or less the implication
of what Secretary of State Colin Powell
told the press last week after talks with his
Mexican counterpart on the immigration issue. Mexico
wants an amnesty for the millions of Mexicans who
have invaded this country, but the Administration has
enough problems these days without pushing for one.

"I don`t expect that in the very
near future we will see some omnibus solution to every
element of the immigration problem," Mr. Powell
said.

This brings us to the bad news.

The bad news is that it doesn`t
really matter what Mr. Powell says or what the
administration does about amnesty for illegals.

It doesn`t matter because amnesty
is already taking place—not by government fiat or
congressional legislation but by osmosis, if you will.
This week a detailed report in the Washington Timesexplained how. [Special
Report: Changes in the cards,by Mary Shaffrey,
The Washington Times, September 7, 2003]

Gradually in several different
states immigrants in this country illegally are
obtaining documents from state governments or recognized
by them that essentially legalize their presence inside
the United States.

Once in possession of these
documents, the aliens can take part in business and
government transactions they are not supposed to be able
to conduct.

The documents, in other words,
constitute de facto amnesty, or as various commentators
have
called it, stealth amnesty.

Let us count the ways in which they
do this.

Amnesty Document No. 1 is the
"matricula consular" card issued by Mexican
government to its citizens abroad.

Citing testimony from the
Center for Immigration Studies, the Times
article reports that "The matricula card is accepted
as a
valid form of identification by police departments,
banks and 12 states for driver`s license applications."Once you have one in these states, for all practical
purposes, you have amnesty.

You also are in a position to
transfer money back home to Mexico, which Mexican
illegals here did to the tune of some $10 billion just
last year, "bolstering the Mexican economy at the
expense of the U.S. economy," as the Times
noted. You also may be in a position to commit crimes
and terrorism against Americans more efficiently.

"FBI
officials recently told a Senate committee the matricula
cards pose a criminal and terrorist threat, and are easy
to obtain through fraud and a lack of adequate security
measures by the Mexican government. Most U.S. agencies
that accept the matricula do not perform criminal
background checks on their subjects."

Its purpose is to allow foreign
citizens who do business here to pay income taxes, but
there are some 6 million ITINs in circulation, and as
Rep.
Tom Tancredo says,"The IRS, unfortunately, hands these cards out
like candy. There are not 6 million foreign businesses
here, so what`s the purpose of these numbers?"

Marti Dinerstein of the CIS told a
congressional subcommittee in June, "It is assumed
that individuals who receive an ITIN and do not file
taxes are using it as official U.S. government
identification to obtain bank accounts, government
services and, ominously, driver`s licenses."[Readher
testimony
here, or the
whole report here in
PDF. Warning: 3.8
Megabytes!] The IRS, after giving away millions of these cards, is now in
the process of revising its methods of distribution.
Hooray.

Amnesty Document No. 3 is the
driver`s license, which the ITIN helps you get in some
states (six to be exact), but which you can also get
with a Social Security card in two states and without
one in some others.

Amnesty Document No. 4 is
in-state tuition, not exactly a document but still a
legal privilege that eight states already grant to
illegal aliens but deny to real Americans from other
states.

Nine more states are considering
granting the same privilege to illegals. Not only does
this allow illegals to gain public education at
Americans` expense but also helps
normalize their presence within the country, which
is what amnesty is all about.